Tag Archives: tomato

Well, after googling “too much zucchini” I had to start googling “too many tomatoes.” My plant exploded over the last week and left me with about 4 lbs of tomatoes. The weather has also decided to turn into fall, so a soup was the best idea I could come up with.

I also really love tomato basil soups but have found the canned ones taste awful and the ones in restaurants tend to be a little on the creamy side.

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 400. Toss together the tomatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet (or two) and roast for 45 minutes.
2. In an big stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 1 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 8 minutes–or until the onions start to brown.
3. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and water or stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet.
4. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.
5. Use a hand blender to blend together. Taste for seasonings.

It’s really pretty easy. Especially if you order a stick mixer overnight from Amazon.com like I did. I have held out for years on buying an immersion blender for years, but I urge you to purchase one STAT. Maybe skip the overnight shipping…

This soup needs a little something, maybe a tablespoon of cream or milk, but I’ll let my book club tonight be the judge.

Our “garden” consists of a zucchini plant, a tomato plant and two pepper plants placed in strange spots in our front yard. The zucchini plant is in an especially weird and hidden spot. So hidden that we check it one day and don’t see a thing growing, then a few days later this often happens:(Dollar for scale.)

So, I looked up some recipes. I found you two winners to make a complete dinner. Or late lunch. Or breakfast, if you feel like being in a food coma and/or going right back to bed: Grilled Zucchini Caprese Sandwiches + Zucchini Oven Chips. Both recipes I adapted from Cooking Light.

Zucchini Oven Chips (adapted because they burn at the original recipe temp) The Ingredient List:

1. Heat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. (If you don’t have a grill pan, like me, you can just use a regular pan!)

2. Add 1 teaspoon oil and garlic; toss to coat. Arrange zucchini in grill pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until grill marks appear.

3. Stick zucchini on a plate or dish of some sort. Drizzle with vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. If you think it needs more vinegar, put it on there!

4. Top each roll evenly with zucchini, basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella.

5. Heat the sandwiches in pan until warm (takes about 5 mins). OR if you have a panini maker, use that!

I ate one part of the sandwich open faced, which was awesome. We also used baguette bread since that is all we had, but these would taste the best with the ciabatta bread that Cooking Light recommended. Finally, we dunked the sandwich in more balsamic vinegar, which if you are a vinegar fan makes this sandwich even more delicious.

This was an easy dinner and it was fun to eat a sandwich, which I don’t eat often… mostly because I can’t ever find a sandwich I like. I’m glad I found one, since I’m sure we will find some more surprise zucchini in the “garden.”